Anna and Mike Cordelli
Norwalk, CT, USA
Home Page
Our Garden
Mikes Roses Main Page
Scroll down for pictures and links to my roses.
First of all, thanks to everybody all over the world who have taken the time to drop me an email to say how much they enjoyed the pages. It's your encouragement that helps me to find the time to keep updating this, your notes are sincerely appreciated. I know I'm a bit behind, but working to catch up.
I'm not a botanist and I don't play one on TV. I don't grow flowers for a profession, I'm a Manager of Information Technology who finds that some time in the garden producing beautiful flowers and good tasting vegetables makes the day to day insanity somehow more sane. I'll often wake up early to get in an hour or so before work, come home at lunch time to tend the roses, and spend more time when I get home at night, if it is still light out.
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Sharing my experiences with others, whether it be people who have never grown roses, or those who have yet to realize the plants can flower all summer long, giving you hundreds and hundreds of flowers each season only seems natural. It was the sharing done by others on the internet that has helped me be successful in my garden, and there are so many places on the internet that seem to be bothered by people who are just getting started. It's like paying back the good will of others. The number of places beginners can turn to for assistance is getting smaller and smaller on the internet, some of the newsgroups and forums are now "bothered" by somebody asking a simple question. It's certainly not unique to this subject, it's happening all over the place, a few people think they "own" some corner of the internet even though it is an open forum, and don't want anybody bothering them. That won't happen here, everybody is welcome, and while it may take a few days, I try to answer every e-mail I receive. |
Click on any of the pictures on this page for a larger version and a few words on my experience with the plants. Click on the Mikes Rose Care Link for my version of the How to Grow Roses Guide.
Email me with any corrections, suggestions, etc. Thanks to all of you who have emailed to say thanks for the pages.
Click here to go back to my home page.
For what's going on in the rose garden in 2003 click here
The Winter of 2002-2003 was brutal to my garden, indeed it was one of the worst winters on record in the NorthEast. We had long periods of time when the temperature never got above freezing. We had snow on top of snow, on top of snow (from Christmas through sometime in March or April there was never a time without snow in my yard). Relentless wind, etc. It devastated the gardens, with dozens of plants not making it through. The pictures below represent roses that have been in the garden, but not all of them may still be growing. More will certainly be added.
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Bella'roma, new for 2003 |
Kardinal |
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 Billy Graham
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 Karen Blixen
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 Sheila's Perfume
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Black Magic |
Lady X |
 Spellcaster
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| Buttercream, new for 2003 |
 Love
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 Sunset Celebration
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Capt Harry Stebbings |
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Veterans Honor |
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Perfectly Red |
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Princess Diana |
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Proud Land |
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Gemni |
Rose Rhapsody |
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Grand Impression |
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Apricot Nectar 
Heirloom
Saint Patrick
Artistry
John F Kennedy
Seashell
Sheer Bliss
Blue Girl
Lagerfeld
Spice Twice
Candelabra
Medallion
Taboo
Melody Perfume
Chicago Peace
Mr Lincoln
Timeless
Dolly Parton
Moonshadow
Tournament of Roses
Tropicana
English Sonnet
New Zealand
Fame!
Oldtimer
First Prize
Opening Night
Fountain Square
Peace
Pearl Essence
Fragrant Plum
Fragrant Rhapsody
Perdita
French Lace
French Perfume
Sachet
Harlequin
Miniatures
About all the pictures on these pages -
The pictures on these pages were all taken by me of my flowers. These are the actual flowers you would see if you came into my yard. In case you are interested, they were taken with a 14 year old Olympus OM2s, a 70-300 zoom on macro most of the time, close up filters others, and color print film. Only natural light was used, the camera was tripod mounted and an electronic release was used to keep it from shaking. Some were taken with one of the Sub compact Olympus Stylus zooms, and now some are taken with a Olympus Digital.
The prints were scanned with a $99 scanner (it was low priced at the time), and very little touch up was done on them, when necessary only brightness and contrast were adjusted, the color was never touched. They are all compressed to save bandwidth and download time, depending on your screen resolution you may see some color blotching.